EBI is happy to announce a contribution of Christos Gortsos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Dimitrios Kyriazis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and University of Oxford) in the EBI Working Paper Series No. 136. Their paper entitled “The Taxonomy Regulation and its Implementation” was published on 8 March 2023.

The EU Taxonomy Regulation (TR), adopted in 2019, is a key milestone in defining legally sustainable activities. The system of its rules is anchored in the definition of six specific environmental objectives, which constitute the benchmark on the basis of which an economic activity can be assessed to qualify as environmentally sustainable and, hence, the degree to which a financial investment is environmentally sustainable is established. The paper is divided in five parts. First, it thoroughly analyses the subject matter and scope of the TR, with an emphasis on its environmental objectives. It sets out the primary EU law limits within which it applies, while also explaining its contribution to internal market-making as a harmonisation measure. Second, it examines the criteria for determining whether an economic activity qualifies as environmentally sustainable, while also delving deeper into the requirements of the technical screening criteria. Third, and in connection to the above, the paper assesses the Delegated Acts adopted on the basis of the TR and mentions those yet to be adopted. It also discusses the Commission’s Communications in relation to said Delegated Acts. Fourth, the paper presents in detail the disclosure requirements for environmentally sustainable investments, and sets out the role played by, inter alia, the Platform on Sustainable Finance and the Member State Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. Finally, it remarks on the impact of the TR so far and on the next steps forward, while also briefly commenting on TR-related litigation before the EU Courts, which is already under way.

To read the entire paper, please follow https://ssrn.com/abstract=4381950 or https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4381950.